The Honeymoon - Tina Seskis

There's trouble in paradise . . .

For as long as she can remember, Jemma has been planning the perfect honeymoon. A fortnight's retreat to a five-star resort in the Maldives, complete with luxury villas, personal butlers and absolute privacy.

It should be paradise. But it's turned into a nightmare.

Because the man Jemma married a week ago has just disappeared from the island without a trace. And now her perfect new life is vanishing just as quickly before her eyes.

After everything they've been through together, how can this be happening? Is there anyone on the island who Jemma can trust? And above all - where has her husband gone?

What did I think?

Holy cow!  How on earth do I review a book such as The Honeymoon?  It is abso-blooming-lutely FREAKING AMAZING!!!  I took a quick look at it one evening and ended up finishing it the next day as I was hooked as soon as the plot twisted at the end of part 1 and then completely blown away by the ending.

Jemma isn't exactly a likeable character but that is part of the beauty of the whole book.  We are introduced to her as she meets her boyfriend on a blind date when her friend sets her up on an internet dating site.  Almost from the moment she meets him, she is planning how and when she can break up with him.  What a total b*tch!  Next thing you know she is off to paradise, aka the Maldives, for her honeymoon and she is barely speaking to her husband.  Trouble in paradise doesn't even come close!  When her husband goes missing, it isn't long before the spotlight turns on Jemma - unable to hide their bickering and misery from other holidaymakers, they weren't your traditional newlyweds.

I was trundling along for the first quarter of the book, just getting to know the characters and wondering what direction it was going then BAM!  WTF?!?  Oh Ms Seskis you are one clever word mistress.  So after I recovered I put on my literary running shoes and raced through the rest of the story, only briefly stopping to catch my breath after one almighty exclamation of horror.  Talk about giving me goosebumps!

This is one EXCELLENT book.  I literally exclaimed out loud and have difficulty writing about this book without thinking of THAT moment.  I am still completely gobsmacked and I'm sure this book will be in my Top 20 of 2017.  People may think this is a romantic book but they couldn't be more wrong - it ends up being the honeymoon from hell for Jemma, with part of me thinking that she perhaps got her just desserts in the end.

The Honeymoon is stomach-clenchingly brilliant, although you perhaps don't want to read it around the pool on your holiday.  I really can't recommend it highly enough for psychological thriller fans who think they've seen it all - you ain't seen nothin' yet!

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

A Mind to Kill - John Nicholl

The hunters become the hunted…

She watched as he slowly approached the room and stopped for a moment, seemingly weighing up his options. And then she called out in a hushed, well-practised childlike whisper she’d perfected over time and come to love infinitely more than any living person. ‘I’m in here. Come on. I’m in here. Come and play with me. I’ve been waiting for you…’

When Rebecca's childhood abuser avoids prosecution, it sets her on a path to revenge, revenge on any man who preys on the innocent.

Twenty-three-year-old Rebecca poses as a child online and sets her trap, luring one predatory sex offender after another to their deaths.

When a severed head and other male body parts are found washed up on a windswept estuary beach, the police begin their investigation.

The internationally bestselling author of White is the Coldest Colour is back with a heart-racing, electrifying psychological thriller packed with suspense.

Brilliantly gripping, A Mind To Kill will have you hooked from the very first page and holding your breath to the heart-stopping and shocking ending.

What did I think?

Never one to be afraid of tackling difficult subjects, John Nicholl's latest novel is set around grooming on the internet BUT with a twist.  On this occasion, roles are reversed as the paedophiles are lured into a web from which they can't escape.  A web woven by 23 year old Rebecca, who was abused as a 6 year old child and saw her abuser go unpunished and walk free.  Rebecca poses as a little girl online and selects her victims with care.  Only the most deviant and disgusting men will be invited to walk into her carefully planned trap but one thing is certain, they won't be walking back out.

"Won't you come into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly.

Rebecca blames the detective who was in charge of her case for it all falling apart.  Known by his workmates as Grav, he's a bit of a wreck of a man these days.  Rebecca is closer to Grav than he realises and only he can provide the missing piece of the jigsaw to finally put Rebecca's tortured mind at rest.

It is a subject that is difficult to read at times, but that's what makes John Nicholl's books so real.  Some of the torture and dismemberment scenes are quite gruesome and I almost read it with one eye closed, but it didn't put me off reading it in the slightest.  Rebecca has suffered so much, and continues to suffer - her abuser definitely broke her and in her eyes her vigilante acts are stopping other little girls from being broken by these sick men.

Kudos to John Nicholl for tackling such a difficult subject that many people would shy away from.  It's no good burying our heads in the sand - these things are happening in the world now!  Yes, this is fiction but parts of it are shockingly very real indeed.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

They All Fall Down - Tammy Cohen

Hannah had a normal life – a loving husband, a good job. Until she did something shocking.

Now she’s in a psychiatric clinic. It should be a safe place. But patients keep dying.

The doctors say it’s suicide. Hannah knows they’re lying.

Can she make anyone believe her before the killer strikes again?

What did I think?

I could not contain my excitement when I received a copy of Tammy Cohen's new book, They All Fall Down.  I have been a fan of Tammy Cohen's writing since reading The War of the Wives many years ago so this book literally dropped onto the doormat and into my hands without even making a brief visit to the TBR pile.

I knew I was going to love it from the start as the first page reminded me of Alice in Wonderland's 'we're all mad here' and as it's set in a psychiatric institution I did find this rather amusing.  Amusing as Hannah is a lot more sane than she realises and I was desperate to learn why she had been incarcerated.  As my mind kept asking the same question: 'What happened to her baby, Emily?'  Such a fine hook from Ms Cohen as I greedily took the bait and raced through the story, uncovering more than I ever expected.

Not only do we have Hannah's story to unravel, but suddenly patients appear to commit suicide.  Hannah is sure that something untoward is happening, but who will believe her - she's mad, isn't she?  Part of me wondered if it was all in Hannah's head but the storyline is SO much better than that.  It went in directions I never even saw coming and then suddenly Hannah is next on the kill list.  Will her family get there in time to save her?  Eeeeeek!

What a great storyline - it's like a study of the human mind that plays with your mind.  I could have quite easily questioned my sanity at times, as Tammy Cohen continued to surprise me.  You're always guaranteed a good read with one of Tammy Cohen's books and They All Fall Down is no exception.  This is surely set to rocket up the charts - you'd be mad not to read it.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

99 Red Balloons - Elisabeth Carpenter

Two girls go missing, decades apart. What would you do if one was your daughter?

When eight-year-old Grace goes missing from a sweetshop on the way home from school, her mother Emma is plunged into a nightmare. Her family rallies around, but as the police hunt begins, cracks begin to emerge.

What are the secret emails sent between Emma’s husband and her sister? Why does her mother take so long to join the search? And is Emma really as innocent as she seems?

Meanwhile, ageing widow Maggie Taylor sees Grace’s picture in the newspaper. It’s a photograph that jolts her from the pain of her existence into a spiralling obsession with another girl – the first girl who disappeared…

This is a gripping psychological thriller with a killer twist that will take your breath away.

What did I think?

Wow!  I loved this book.  It's a super fast-paced story that had me on the edge of my seat and looking back now I can see that all of the clues were there but I walked, no make that RAN, past every one of them.  If reading was a race, I would have won a gold medal for reading 99 Red Balloons.

With two stories of missing children, both are absolutely heartbreaking.  Firstly, the story in the present is of sisters, Emma and Steph. Emma's daughter, Grace, has gone missing and it's usually a time when the family would rally round but this family is ODD.  Emma and Steph's mother virtually has to be dragged there to support her daughter and Emma's husband seems to be hiding something...something that Steph is privy to.

The past story is about Maggie whose granddaughter, Zoe, was abducted.  Zoe's mother, Sarah, died of a broken heart and Maggie never gave up looking for Zoe.  She knows exactly what Emma is going through and I've read enough psychological thrillers to know that the two stories would link somehow, but I didn't expect them to come together is such a spectacular fashion.

99 Red Balloons is a proper edge of your seat, race against time, rollercoaster ride that had my heart rate soaring to danger levels.  A magnificent debut by Elisabeth Carpenter that will be difficult to beat.  Highly recommended.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

Elephant and Pinky Moon - Lilac Mills

Twenty-eight-year-old Nina lives a quiet, unassuming life, happy (ish) with her job, maybe not quite as happy with her non-existent love-life (but no one can have everything, right?) and content to trundle along with her nice, predictable daily routine.

That is, until Nina is persuaded to accompany her octogenarian grandmother on a beach holiday to Turkey.

Nina envisages sedate walks along the promenade, afternoon naps by the pool, and bingo in the evening. What she actually gets is too much vodka, adult games of "pin the tail on the donkey" and dancing on a bar whilst flaunting her knickers - and that's just her gran!

What did I think?

Oh I absolutely LOVED this book!  Having adored Lilac Mills' amazing debut, Under the Cherry Tree, I was like a kid in a sweet shop when Elephant and Pinky Moon dropped on my kindle.  Lilac Mills has such a fabulous lyrical writing style that she magically sweeps us away to picturesque Turkey in her latest novel.

Well I admit to wondering what the devil Elephant and Pinky Moon could be all about, as there was absolutely no clue in the title.  All is hilariously revealed as we follow Nina and her 84-going-on-24 year old grandmother on their trip to Turkey.  Nina is conned into going on the trip with her gran, taking the place of her granddad who recently passed away.  Yes, I did say Nina was conned by the unruly Flossie as the resort is meant for 30-45 year olds to have some sun, sea, sand and something else.

Nina couldn't be more unlike her gran.  Whereas Flossie is outgoing, outrageous and daring, Nina is reserved and often mortified by Flossie's actions but Flossie has a cunning plan: she is going to get Nina out of her comfort zone and paired up with a nice young man if it's the last thing that she does.  With dancing on bars, diving and paragliding in the mix, Flossie's plan is put into action and Nina starts to let her hair down a little.  Nina's choice of activities are some civilised excursions to see the historical sites in the area and with a little nudge from Flossie, she meets the lovely Leo.  I think I fell a little bit in love with Leo myself, but is he too good to be true?

There is LOTS of hilarity (and vodka) in Elephant and Pinky Moon but also some real life trials and tribulations, reminding us how precious and fragile life is.  A rollicking good read, bursting with wit, warmth and Nanna-isms, Elephant and Pinky Moon will take you on a side-splitting trip to scenic Turkey from the comfort of your own armchair.  It is a perfect pool-side read or an ideal escape from British Summer/Winter time on a chilly wet weekend.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

He Said/She Said - Erin Kelly

Don't be left in the dark.

In the hushed aftermath of a total eclipse, Laura witnesses a brutal attack. She and her boyfriend Kit call the police, and in that moment, four lives change forever.

Fifteen years on, Laura and Kit live in fear.

And while Laura knows she was right to speak out, she also knows that you can never see the whole picture: something is always hidden . . . something she never could have guessed.

What did I think?

Well there could have been a total eclipse of the sun and I would not have noticed whilst reading He Said/She Said; I'd no sooner picked it up than I was engrossed and unable to put it down until I'd finished.  The mark of a good book!

Laura and Kit are looking forward to the birth of their twins, although Kit is heading off to the Faroe Islands for an eclipse and Laura is suffering palpitations of fear.  Fear that Beth will turn up to threaten their happy existence.  The story flash backs to 1999, when Laura and Kit first meet Beth as they stumble upon her allegedly being raped.  Laura and Kit become key witnesses in the trial but how much did they really see and how much of what Beth is saying is true?  Clearly something went sour as Laura is afraid of running into Beth now so my fingers literally could not turn the pages fast enough to find out the whole story!

This is a book that I intended to start and read over the next few days...I couldn't have been more wrong as I read it as fast as I possibly could.  I picked it up and could not put it down, I ended up reading until my eyes hurt.  I swung back and forth between whether Jamie was guilty or not but there was so much more to uncover.  Beth reminded me of Jennifer Jason Leigh's creepy character in Single White Female; she seemed to latch on to Laura like a limpet and even a crow bar wouldn't get her off.

Aside from the story around the court case, I loved the description of the eclipse; the coolness of the wind and the eerie silence as the moon crossed infront of the sun.  I also have to give a special shout out to Newcastle Central Station and our famous bridges for getting a mention in Kit's journey to the Faroe Islands.

I was hooked, intrigued and totally addicted to He Said/She Said, putting Erin Kelly firmly on my radar of authors to look out for.  A scorching novel that kept me riveted from start to finish and barely able to breathe until I turned the final page.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

Praying For Sleep - Jeffery Deaver

Michael Hrubek, a young schizophrenic, has escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane. And he's making his way towards Lis Atcheson, the teacher who testified at his trial.

Four people are racing to intercept him before he finds her. His psychiatrist; the hospital director; a professional tracker. And Lis's husband, who plans to stop Hrubek before the madman reaches his wife.

But Michael's mind - with its delusions of murder and betrayal - is crystal clear about one thing. He knows Lis better than she knows herself. And he carries with him a monstrous secret that will tear apart many lives in the course of one horrifying night...

What did I think?

I apologise in advance for the short review as I wasted too much time reading this book to write about it.  I've read Jeffery Deaver for many years now and this doesn't even come close to the Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance thrillers.  I wasn't hooked, I wasn't thrilled, I was praying for it to end.

Michael Hrubek has escaped from a mental institution and despite everyone knowing where he is going - to find Lis Atcheson, who was a witness at his trial, they feel the need to track him across country.  Even Lis's husband joins in the chase, with me thinking he would be better off at home protecting his wife if he cares that much about her.  Why go looking for someone when you know where they will be? So after MANY days of tracking Hrubek, he finally turns up at Lis's farmhouse and you know that not everyone will leave there alive.

I really struggled with this one; I found it boring with too many characters and I had little care about who they were or how they fitted into the story.  If this was my first Deaver, I wouldn't read any more.  I do think I have been spoilt by reading so many good books of late, but I will definitely stick to the Rhyme and Dance books from now on.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon